Revised World Cup format a winner (30 May 1999)

30 May 1999

Revised World Cup format a winner

COLIN BRYDEN

NOT everything in the 1999 World Cup is perfect but the format, though complex, is a winner.

The Super Six system ensures that competitive cricket is played all the way through. Going into the last weekend of group matches, there was something at stake in most.

West Indies and Australia will engage in a crucial match at Old Trafford today, which could result in the losers going home early, while New Zealand may need to do something dramatic to improve their run rate when they face Scotland tomorrow.

South Africa paid dearly for yesterday's sub-standard performance against Zimbabwe. Their penalty was the loss of two points for the next phase, which will make qualifying for the semifinals more difficult.

A system of taking points forward only from fellow qualifiers makes sense as it effectively means the second phase starts two-fifths of the way into an elite six-team league.

Whether interest will be sustained all the way through the Super Six remains to be seen, because with only two teams dropping out before the semifinals it is possible the two might be doomed well before next weekend's matches. It is also possible, though, that the scramble for points could go all the way. As few as two wins out of five, including the matches carried forward, might be enough.

The World Cup may finally take centre stage in Britain after Manchester United's surge to a triple crown, unprecedented for an English soccer club.

It has been a tournament curiously lacking in focus. There has been no big marketing campaign, nor an opening event which brought all the teams together. The official World Cup song is only due to be launched this week, as half the players start making their way home.

There will be only one opportunity for the players of the world to be together - at a garden party with the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.

Taking the World Cup to venues outside England was a worthwhile exercise. The crowd at Amstelveen for the match between South Africa and Kenya was exceedingly good-natured. Many were Dutch.

The KGA ground was delightful, set in a forest on the outskirts of Amsterdam in a spacious sports complex which includes three other cricket grounds and numerous hockey fields.

Dutch cricket officials were beaming with delight, among them Emmerson Trotman, the effervescent West Indian "rebel" and Border opening batsman.

Kenya put up a respectable showing and appear to be the best of the three non-Test nations, with Scotland and Bangladesh having been outplayed in most matches.

As the bigger teams start to run into form and the need for teams to improve their run rates becomes more urgent, the gulf has been obvious. West Indies needed only 10.1 overs to slaughter Scotland, who had been bowled out for 68, while Australia hunted down a target of 179 against Bangladesh in a ball fewer than 20 overs.

There is talk of expanding the World Cup to 16 teams for the 2003 version in South Africa but the United Cricket Board should be wary. One of the strengths of this tournament has been that most of the games have been competitive.

It is important that more countries reach a good standard - but playing only in a World Cup, as happened with Scotland, makes little sense. If the major nations are serious about expanding their empire, they must play more regularly against the smaller ones.